The honors continue to roll in for the Wisconsin men's hockey teams dynamic defensive duo of sophomore Justin Schultz and junior Jake Gardiner.
The Badgers men's hockey program has a long and proud history of producing All-Americans, and on Friday Schultz and Gardiner added their names to that illustrious list, becoming the program's 36th and 37th All-American honorees.
The two Badgers blueliners made up the most dynamic offensive pairing in the country, and the American Hockey Coaches Association recognized them on their 2011 All-American team. Schultz received first-team honors and Gardiner was a second-team selection. The two players are the third and fourth Wisconsin defensemen to receive All-American recognition.
Schultz had a sophomore season for the ages from the blue line for UW this season. He was the highest scoring defenseman in the country this season with 47, points and his 18 goals were the most for a college defenseman since the 2002-'03 season and tied for second in Wisconsin program history.
The West Kelowna, British Colombia native was also one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award as the most outstanding player in college hockey. Schultz was also the WCHA Defensive player of the year, an All-WCHA selection, the Insidecollegehockey.com Defenseman of the Year and All-College Hockey News First Team honoree.
Gardiner, a Second-Team All-WCHA selection, broke out it a big way during his junior season, ranking second in the country among defensemen, behind only Schultz, with 41 points, which almost doubled Gardiner's previous career high in points.
Schultz and Gardiner scored 18 and 10 goals this year respectively, the first time Wisconsin has had two defensemen score in double digits since 1989-'90.
Schultz announced after the season ended that he will be returning for his junior season in 2011-'12, while Gardiner left school early, singing a professional contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is currently playing for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
